


Wonder Struck

by valenlimes



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Australia, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Twins, Australian Slang, Emo, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Graduation, Strangers to Lovers, Twins, reunited, swearing because they are teens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-07-04 02:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15831660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valenlimes/pseuds/valenlimes
Summary: Mark likes Mina, but her emo-rock-punk brother who listens to too much Fall Out Boy is getting in the way.Alternatively - Donghyuck wears too much eyeliner and Mark is good at accidentally insulting people





	Wonder Struck

**Author's Note:**

> ok so just pretend Kang Mina is actually Mina Lee and that she and Donghyuck are related okay?
> 
> this is inspired by that special stage that Mark and Mina did together idk the name 
> 
> also mark is a little bit of a fuckboy in the beginning so just ignore 
> 
> there are some Australian things here so if you have any questions just ask in the comments and enjoy!

Mark Lee had game, he knew this. He was good-looking, smart and good at sports. When he wanted something all he had to do was flash his perfect smile and it would be handed to him on a silver platter. It was pretty sweet. 

But Mina was different. Ever since she walked into Mr Kim’s third-period chemistry on the first day of year 12, Mark knew he had to know her.  
Mina was easily the sweetest person he had ever met. She was beautiful and liked to wear flirty little sundresses that drove Mark up the wall. Her hair smelled like strawberries and she chewed on the end of her pen adorably when she was concentrating.

However, Mina had game too. It had taken Mark great lengths to convince her that he needed tutoring, so much that he even stooped so low as to deliberately fail a test just so he could show her evidence of his incompetence.  
Mark Lee had scored big with this one. Mina was the hottest girl in their school and she was tutoring him in Chemistry. Jeno had whooped in surprise when Mark had told him over lunch last Wednesday. 

“But you are good at chemistry?” Jaemin raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, but she doesn’t know that,” Mark smirked, fist-bumping his friends. 

But, when Mark Lee wants, Mark Lee gets, and after several months or perusing, Mark had finally managed to get Mina to tutor him. 

Standing on the front porch of her house, Mark checked his hair one more time in the glass panelling of the door.  
There were a loud thump and a few muffled yells and then the door opened.  
Mina smiled, long red hair swirling across her shoulder. “Hi, Mark.” She said a little breathlessly. “Sorry for the wait.”

“Nah it's good.” Mark gave her a smile, the nice one that got people to do what he wanted. “I wasn’t waiting long.” 

“Let’s get started, shall we?” Mina fluttered her eyelashes and whirled around, hair smelling like strawberries.

Mark mentally patted himself on the back. 

“We are going to study in the kitchen today. I hope you don’t mind.” She sunk into one of the large chairs at the dining table. 

“What about your room? Surely it's more… quiet?” Mark was a little disappointed, to say the least, but he would make do. 

Mina laughed. “Nice try Mark, but my room is messy right now and you are not allowed to see it. Besides, we are here to study, right?” 

“Yeah, of course.” Mark sat down beside her, scooting his chair closer. There were some textbooks already laid out on the table, text neatly highlighted in pink and blue. 

“So, what don’t you understand?” 

“Uhhh.” _Think, think, think!_ “Ionic and covalent bonding?” 

“So, the whole first topic?” Mina raised an eyebrow. “From the beginning of the year?”

“Yes?”

“Well… okay.” She flipped to the front of the textbook. “So, do you understand the valence shells of electrons and stuff?” 

“Sort of.” Mark lent in closer.

“Well, we will just go from the beginning then.” Mina bent over and slammed a pile of notes on the table. By the first half of the second page, Mark had zoned out. He hadn’t really thought this through too much. Be now he kind of half expected to be making out with Mina right now, not studying double electron bonds. 

“And that is how covalent bonding works. You get it?” Mina looked up from the notes, smiling.  
Mark had been staring at her shimmery pink eyeshadow for the past five minutes. 

“Yes.” He said firmly, because he _did_ know it. He was just pretending like he didn’t. 

“Awesome! Let’s take a break then, I will go and make us some drinks.” Mina sprung out her chair, sundress riding up around her thighs. Mark kept his eyes trained on her face. 

“Thanks, need any help?” 

“Only if you want to.” Mark nodded and followed her into the kitchen, leaning against the counter as she pulled some glasses from a cabinet. “Ah damn it.” Mina frowned, closing the cabinet she was rifling through. “We are out of cordial. I am pretty sure there is some more in the basement. I will be right back okay?” She skipped out of the room.

Sighing, Mark looked around the room. Mina’s house was really nice, she was obviously pretty well off.  
There were footsteps coming down the hallway and Mark perked up. It wasn’t Mina though. 

A boy strolled into the kitchen, headphones on, blaring something with a lot of drums and gritty vocals. He had choppy black hair, fringe so long that it was brushing his eyes which were heavily lined with black eyeliner.  
He was chubby, unflattering grey band t-shirt clinging to his frame. Was that Fall Out Boy?  
The boy hadn’t seen him yet, bypassing him completely to go to the fridge. He pulled out a cheese stick, unwrapping it as he sat on the counter.  
Mark stared awkwardly as the boy raised his eyebrows and took off his headphones. 

“So, you are Mina’s study buddy?”

“Yeah, that would be me.”

“Mina’s twin brother.”

Mark choked. “Mina has a twin?! You- you’re~” 

“Different? Yeah. I know. No need to rub it in.”  
“Sorry.”

“Whatever, have fun pretending to be dumb just so you can stare at my sister’s boobs.” He gave a snarky smile before hopping off the counter. Mina came back into the room as he left. 

“Donghyuck?” He ignored her, shoving his headphones back on. She shrugged, raising the bottle of cordial for Mark to see. “I hope you like raspberry, it’s all we had.”

“Yeah, that’s cool.” Mark stepped forward. “I didn’t know you had a twin.” 

Mina laughed. “Oh, Donghyuck? Yeah, he goes to the performing arts school on the other side of town. We were a lot closer when we were young. He’s going through some… stuff.”  
She spoke carefully, selecting her words. 

“I can see that. Does he always wear so much eyeliner?”

“Unfortunately, so.” Mina giggled. “I caught him stealing mine on multiple occasions.”

“Wow.”

That wouldn’t be the last time Mark and Donghyuck. The male always managed to show up at convenient times, directing a pointed glare or a well-timed snide comment in Mark’s direction whenever Mina wasn’t looking. It made studying (*cough* flirting *cough*) very difficult and Mark eventually decided that they should study at his house rather than hers.

~

Graduation rolled around and Mark made it through with an ATAR to get him into the university course he wanted. 

Jeno became his roommate and they moved into an only slightly dingy apartment a half hour drive away from campus. Accommodation was expensive in Sydney due to overpopulation and high housing demand, but Jeno had a nice trust fund to back him up. 

After the HSC finished mid-November, the feeling was euphoric. They were free from all the pressures that came with high school, and the only time they would have to return was for the high-achievers assembly in 5 months.  
Then came Schoolies. Mark and his friends hired out a fake-classy apartment on the gold coast, drunk too much alcohol, smoked too many unknown powders and made out with too many strangers.  
That was also the night that both Mark and Mark’s friends found out that he was gay (bi to be precise), after watching him make out with a tall blonde surfer from Queensland and enjoying it.  
It was all cool if a bit confusing. Jeno had asked whether it was the alcohol, but when Mark found himself internet stalking all the boys that would be attending the end of schoolies party that night, they realised that maybe he wasn’t as straight as he thought.  
But now, all the partying was over and life returned to normal, and Mark was stuck in a limbo phase between two huge chapters of his life. The summer holidays weren’t that long, at least not compared to America’s. Summer break for Australia was six weeks of scorching heat and a random week of stuffing your face full of food and Christmas somewhere in the middle. Australia Day was pretty lit too, everyone rocking up to the pool party in Australian-flag-patterned swimmers. 

But when all was said and done, Mark was bored.  
Peaking in high school was only good when you were actually _in_ high school. Now that he had graduated and been to enough university freshman orientation days to last him a lifetime, he realised that he was right back down at the bottom, and no CHS State Swimming hoodies were going to do anything to fix that.  
Jeno was doing okay, he was rich enough to buy his popularity, and already had a little following of admirers from his Media and Communications major (don’t ask, he apparently bought them all food of some variety).  
Mark just stood awkwardly alongside as his best friend interacted with people that he himself had no desire to talk to. 

Not that that mattered anyway, Mark was still riding on his title of ‘most popular boy’ from high school, and proud of it too.

Lounging on their couch on a random Monday afternoon, in the midst of a February heat wave Jeno sighed. “Yo, whatever happened to you and that Mina girl last year?”

Mark shrugged. “I don’t really know. When the HSC trials started we kind of stopped talking. More focused on studying I guess.” 

“You know she goes to UNSW, too right? Soomin told me that she got into the commerce course she wanted.” 

“Oh, cool. Maybe we could meet up again sometime, have a little high school reunion.” Mark sat up. The pedestal fan in the corner of the room was doing nothing to cool them down and he was sweating everywhere. 

“Dude, we got out of high school like 4 months ago, you really want to see them all again already? I thought we agreed after Schoolies that we would try and do our own thing?”

“Yeah, but I am kind of bored, there is only so many times I can beat your ass in HALO before I need to do something else.” 

Jeno laughed and punched him in the shoulder. “I think Jaemin is hosting a party soon, although knowing him it will probably be more like a gatho in some park somewhere.”

“I swear to god if it is a gatho I am not going. I don’t want to be chased by the police again when we get ratted out for the fucking weed smell.” Mark groaned.

“Come on, you always have a good time while you are there. Plus, he provides the drinks.” 

“Jeno, no house, no go.”

“Ugh, fine.” Jeno stood up. “I can’t take this heat anymore, wanna go to the beach?” 

“I am already in my swimmers, dude.”

~

Jaemin did end up having a house party. Mark almost cried in relief when he saw the Facebook even pop up on his feed.  
The university term wasn’t starting until March, and Mark was already itching to do something. 

Na Jaemin was a legend. Most of the people in their high school had only heard of him in name, with the boy ditching school so many times that it was a miracle that he managed to graduate. He threw the best, most wild, parties that everyone wanted to go to.  
Mark, due to his social status and his close relationship with one Lee Jeno (the object of Jaemin’s wet dreams) had managed to make friends with this social enigma of a male.  
This had its perks, but then again, Na Jaemin was completely and utterly off the rails. He was the kind of kid that all the neighbourhood parents knew about, talked about and prayed that their child wouldn’t grow up to be like.  
In other words – Mark thought he was the best thing since gay marriage was legalised. 

The only problem was his parties always managed to go off kilter, no matter the size. The number of times Mark had to run from the police because some cranky old person had tipped them off had reached triple digits. 

Tonight, was no exception. The house Jaemin had managed to snag was huge, all marble staircases and infinity pools. Of course, the living room already smelled like weed and there were crushed beer cans in the plant pots. 

Mark weaved throughout the heaving masses of sweaty, half-naked young adults in search of something to drink. Jeno had vanished the second they walked into the party. Mark would probably find him later in the night smashed on cherry cruisers (Jeno was a lightweight) and singing to some prog-rock song that he barely knew the words to.

No thanks. 

He managed to snag himself the last unopened bottle of beer in the fridge, something cheap and tasted like piss. Mark hissed as he took his first mouthful.  
Twenty minutes of aimless wandering and half a bottle of beer later, Mark had been cornered by two tequila-drunk females and felt up by a short skinny fake-straight guy. He was ready to go home, deciding that University style parties weren’t nearly as fun as high school parties even though they were virtually the same thing.

Someone with a goon bag and a joint wobbling precariously between their lips stumbled past, shouldering Mark. “OH,” the guy exclaimed, “sorry mate. I’m fucking fried right now, didn’t see you there.” He pulled mark into a bro hug before continuing on his journey to god-knows-where.  
Seconds later, another voice filled Mark’s conscious. It was high, feminine, slightly pissed off and extremely familiar.  
A head of red hair appeared in his line of vision, sundress decorated with red and white flowers. “Jackson! Jackson come back!” Mina shoved her way through the crowd of people, standing on her tip-toes in search of ‘Jackson.’  
A long blue-painted fingernail tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, have you seen a guy walk past. About yay tall, clearly munted as hell?” Mina looked up at him. 

“Uh yeah? He went that way.” Mark pointed back towards the direction where Jackson had wobbled off too. 

“Thanks.” Mina flashed a smile, lip gloss shimmering in the strobe lights. She turned away, only to turn around a second later, a curious look on her face. “Wait – Mark Lee?” She asked.

“Uh yeah. Good to see you, Mina.” He smiled sheepishly. This was embarrassing. The one girl he couldn’t get in high school had come back to haunt him.

“Oh, my gosh! I can’t believe I didn’t recognise you! You look great Mark!” She grinned good-naturedly, leaning in to give him a one-armed hug. 

“Ah thanks, you do too. Just as pretty as ever.” Mark flashed her a smile, a nice one that made girls blush. He wasn’t lying though, Mina was still as attractive as she was 10 months ago. 

“Oh stop.” Mina giggled, slapping him gently on the arm. “Look I am really sorry and I would love to hang out more but I have to go sort out that whole Jackson situation. Give me your number maybe? So, we can meet up?”  
She pulled her phone out of her waistband.

“Yeah, no problem.” Mark punched his digits into her phone. “See you around and good luck!” 

She smiled and clutched her phone to her chest. “Thanks, I think I am going to need it.” and with a swirl of her strawberry-scented hair, Mina had vanished into the throng of people around them. 

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. Mark couldn’t find any more drinkable alcohol so he was painfully sober. In the end, he had found Jeno, pried him from the tree that he was hugging and took the both of them home. Jeno woke up the next day with a hangover so bad that he was incapacitated and Mark woke up with a cute text from Mina with a purple heart emoji. 

~

They ended up meeting, more than once at that. Mina was just as delightful as he remembered, and Mark was still confident that she was the hottest girl on campus. Over three lunches and a trip to the beach, Mark and Mina caught up on the good old times, reminiscing about things that happened only months ago. They were both stuck for excuses as to why they stopped talking in the first place, and Mark actually admitted that he regretted it. 

What a romantic. 

Mina blushed.

Mark scored a kiss on the cheek after that date. And a nice image of Mina in a bikini to think about as he went to sleep that night. 

Jeno gave him a high-five.

The fifth time they met up, Mina brought Mark over to her house. It was a slightly less scorching Saturday in early March. The university term had just started, but they were already procrastinating studying in favour of hanging out together. 

Mina lived pretty close to campus, in an apartment that was nicer than his own. Hers had a pool. Mark was tempted to ask how she could afford it but then he remembered the grandeur of her family home back in Manly and he shut up.

“You want anything?” Mina asked as she walked towards the kitchen.

“Just water please.” Mark flopped down onto the couch relishing the cool blow of the air-con. The first of March signalled the start of Autumn in Australia, but they weren’t going to get any relief from the hot weather until at least May.  
There was the gentle clinking of glasses in the kitchen and Mark closed his eyes. 

There were footsteps coming down the hallway. Mark sat up, expecting Mina. It wasn’t. 

A boy with bronze coloured hair and black headphones walked into the room, too engrossed in his phone to notice Mark sitting on the couch. He was dressed in a black band shirt with the sleeves cut off, revealing lean arms and golden skin. He was wearing eyeliner, just enough to accentuate his elegant eyes without overpowering. The silver earring dangling from his ear swayed as he bopped his head in time to the electric guitars and heavy drums coming from the headphones. 

In other words – he was hot.

“Oh, Donghyuck! You’re back. How was work?” Mina strode into the room, drinks and a plate of cut up fruit on a tray in her hands. 

Donghyuck looked up from his phone in curiosity. He eyed Mark suspiciously as he took off the headphones. “It was alright. Some lady had a go at me because we didn’t stock a Kylie Minogue record that she was apparently desperate to get her hands on.” 

“But you work in a record store that sells rock records?” 

“Yeah, tell her that.” Donghyuck huffed and grabbed an apple slice off the plate. 

“Hyuck! Those are for our guest.” Mina gestured to Mark. 

The male just shrugged. “He’s your guest, not mine, and I am hungry, sorry.”

Mina huffed angrily and batted away her brother’s hand as he reached for another slice.  
Donghyuck simply rolled his eyes. “Whatever, I am going to the beach with Renjun anyways, we will just get food there. Stay safe lovebirds!” He called cheekily as he retreated from the living room. 

Mina sat down next to Mark on the couch and handed him his water. “Sorry about him, I don’t know if you remember my twin Donghyuck.” 

Mark gaped like a fish. “He has changed so much! I can actually identify you as siblings now.”

Mina giggled. “Hey! He was just a late bloomer.”

“His personality is still the same I see.” 

“Ah, actually no. He has calmed down a lot lately, I have no idea why he was suddenly so rude when you showed up.” Mina frowned and bit down on an apple slice. 

Mark scoffed. “He probably still hates me from high school.” He took a sip of his drink, icy liquid cooling his insides.

“Hates you? I thought you two were friends. He talked about you all the time!” 

Mark choked on the water. “Friends?! He took every opportunity to glare at me whenever we studied together!” 

“Oh, my god. That’s so weird!” 

“Tell me about it!” 

~

it was four weeks into the term and Mark was already over it. he discovered he had no friends in any of his lectures, and all the cool confidence he had in high school instantly went out the window the second he walked into the large lecture halls.  
Everyone was already sectioned off into their own little friend groups, with an unspoken rule about seats in the lecture halls. Mark had managed to snag his own little section at the back, separate from the other students but close enough so he didn’t look like a total loser. 

This is why Mark found it extremely strange when he walked into his evening lecture in early April to find a familiar face in his seat. 

Donghyuck was wearing yet another muscle shirt, with glittery copper eyeshadow dusted across his lids. He was oddly able to be masculine and feminine at the same time, and pull it off exceptionally well at that.  
Mark didn’t like causing a scene, but he had just gotten off a long day of studying in the library with Jeno (the boy wouldn’t shut up about his new iPhone X coming in the mail) and he really wasn’t in the mood to look for a new seat. 

“Hey, you’re in my seat.” He said quietly, watching as Donghyuck scratched a pencil against some music paper.  
“Hey, excuse me.” A little bit louder this time.  
When met with silence Mark huffed, blew his fringe out from his face and reached out to touch Donghyuck on the shoulder. “Hey, Donghyuck, are you listening.” The boy’s skin was just as warm as it looked, smooth and soft under Mark’s hand. 

As if waking from a dream, Donghyuck shook his head and pulled out an AirPod that Mark didn’t realise he was wearing. “Sorry, can I help you? Oh, hi Mark.”

“Hello. Um, you are in my seat.” He muttered quietly.

Donghyuck juts raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. “Okay, and?” 

“could you please move?” 

Donghyuck scratched his chin, deliberating with himself. “No.” 

“What do you mean no?” Mark snapped, a little bit too harsh for his own liking. He tried to smooth it over with a smile, the nice one that made people forgive him when he messed up. 

“Stop grinning at me like that, you look psychotic. And I mean no, I am not moving. I got here first and the lecture is about to start.”

Mark closed his mouth, frowning. “Fine then.” He turned away, scouring the room for any more available seats. The only ones free were surrounded by people he didn’t know or down the very front of the room. He sighed dejectedly and started to make his way down the stairs to the front of the hall. 

“Mark, wait.” Donghyuck’s voice called, a little bit irritated and completely fed up. “Come back here, you big baby.” He pulled his bag off the seat next to him and shoved it down by his feet. “Sit.” 

Mark eyes the seat. Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “It’s not booby trapped. Come on, do you really want to sit down the front by yourself?” 

Mark just pouted and plonked himself down into the seat. 

The lecture commenced with a middle-aged man (prematurely greying) striding into the room shouting about some assignment that was going to be due in a month’s time.

Mark didn’t really pay attention if he was perfectly honest. Donghyuck wasn’t paying attention either, choosing to continue scratching away at his sheet music. Mark chose to watch his pretty hands move, the silver rings adorning them glinting in the sunlight.  
“What are you writing?” Mark whispered. 

“Music.” 

“What kind of music.”

“When did you get so nosy?” 

Mark shrugged. “Just asking.” 

They left the lecture that day without saying a word of goodbye. Mark went straight back to his apartment and cooked dinner for both him and Jeno before finishing reading his lectures and going to bed. That night he didn’t dream about red polka-dot print bikinis and sandy beaches. He dreamt about sun sliding down tanned skin and eyed that melted in the heat of the afternoon light. 

~

Winter rolled around - a much-needed break after the constant heat of the summer. The weather in Australia had become extremely bi-polar thanks to global warming, so Mark had started off the day in a long sleeve and jeans, and ended it in three jackets and a beanie. 

The cold air from the coast tore through Mark’s layers of clothing in a second as he walked along Manly beach front. It was a Saturday night and there were crowds of tourists and locals alike swarming the open front restaurants in search of something that wasn’t ridiculously over-priced. His eyes were streaming from the icy wind and caused him to nearly trip over a stray aux chord that totally belonged there. 

“Hey! You unplugged my guitar!” An angry voice shouted as he stumbled, attempting to stop himself from face-planting into the concrete. 

“S-sorry.” He mumbled, straightening up. 

“I was in the middle of a set mate!” The guy stood up, brandishing his guitar angrily. 

“It was an accident.” Mark held up his hand defensively. “I didn’t break anything, did I?” 

“Well, no. But still! You could have!” 

“Hey, he said he didn’t break anything, give it a rest.” Muscle shirt covered by a hoodie and leather jacket, Donghyuck stepped forward. The night lights coupled with the smoky eyeliner was rather intimidating, and the man backed away.  
Mark did a little bit too. 

“Mark, are you good?” Donghyuck peered at him. 

“Uh, yeah. Thanks for saving me. I am not I the mood to get beat by a guitar.” 

Donghyuck laughed, a delightful sound that filled Mark with warmth. “It’s not fun trust me.” 

“Wait~” 

“Don’t ask. A crazy musician friend, ruined sheet music etcetera, etcetera.”

“Jeez.” Mark laughed.

“Tell me about it. You want to buy me some ice cream in return for my heroics?” Donghyuck nudged him with his elbow. 

“Heroics?” Mark protested, but he was already being dragged towards the nearest Ben & Jerry’s. 

~

“Ahhh.” Mark groaned as the cold treat hit his tongue. “It’s too cold for this.”

“It’s never too cold for ice cream idiot.” Donghyuck spat, licking away happily at his huge cone of chocolate swirl ice cream. 

“So, why are you in Manly?” Mark took another bite of his own cone, wincing at an oncoming brain freeze. 

“Visiting family. Living with Mina is cool, but there is only so much I can take of her before I need to leave.” 

“I still can’t believe you two are twins.” 

“Neither can I to be honest. Do you know how hard it was growing up with a perfect twin sister? I love her and she is my best friend, but it sucks being compared to her you know?” 

Mark stopped walking. “Oh, I didn’t realise.” 

“Of course, you didn’t, you were too busy trying to make out with her to notice. Besides, you know what I looked like back then, how could I possibly _not_ be compared to her.”

“Was it the eyeliner?” Mark teased. Donghyuck’s face fell.

“Something like that.” He said quietly. 

Mark instantly felt guilty. “Oh, Donghyuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t- I wasn’t serious.”

“They never are.” He shook his head and plastered on a smile. “It’s not like it matters now anyway. I have worked hard on myself and now I am someone worthy to be called Mina’s twin.” He took one final lick of his half-finished ice cream before throwing it in the trash and striding away without looking back.

~

“MARK! GET OUT HERE!” Jeno yelled from the living room. Groaning, Mark dragged himself off the bed.

“What do you want Jeno?” he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the large puddle of water in the middle of their kitchen. The sink was overflowing, tap still on.

“You left the tap on idiot!” Jeno wasn’t impressed, standing dramatically in the middle of the puddle with his arms crossed. 

“Sorry, I was… distracted.” It was the truth. Ever since that night where Donghyuck had walked away from him, Mark had been in a weird mood. He couldn’t focus, his heart would sink every time Donghyuck didn’t show up to the afternoon lecture they shared and he kept looking at his phone every five seconds. Even texting Mina didn’t get him excited like it used to. 

“Dude, you have been moping for nearly two weeks now. What’s going on? Is it something with Mina?”  
Mark pouted and grabbed a roll of paper towel. “Nothing’s wrong.” He began mopping up the wet floor. 

“Mark Lee, you just pouted and then lied to me.” Jeno grabbed the roll of towel. “I am being serious here.” 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me Jeno! That’s the thing!”

“So, it’s not got something to do with Mina?” He tossed a wet wad of towel into the trash.

“I mean sort of? It’s her twin brother actually.” 

“Mina has a twin?” Jeno’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. 

“Yeah, I know. Anyways, I think I accidentally offended him, but I don’t know why I care so much. It’s been eating me up Jeno.”

“Hmm.” Jeno scratched his chin. “Sounds like you care about him.”

“What! No, Jeno. I like Mina remember?” 

“Well, then why do you care so much about this little accident? Just apologise and explain you didn’t mean to and it will all be sweet.” 

“Apologise? Jeno I can’t, it’s been too long and I will just make a fool of myself in front of him!”

“See!” Jeno nearly slipped on the wet floor. “You do care!” 

“Oh, god what if Mina hates me! He’s her twin! She won’t want to talk to me!” Mark knew this was a possibility, but somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to care as much. He was just in a state of panic and was listing all the possibilities at that point. 

“Well you better get your act together and fucking apologise then!” Jeno threw the empty paper towel roll at him.

“Yes, apologise!” Mark, spurred on by Jeno’s rather aggressive pep talk/best-friend-counselling session, practically sprinted out of the room, slipping on the water as he went. 

~

He was halfway to Mina and Donghyuck’s apartment when he realised he had no idea what he was going to say to the both of them, or if they were even home. 

Knocking on their door, Mark gulped.  
“Mark? What are you doing here?” Mina peered around the door. 

“Hi Mina, is Donghyuck here?” He rocked back and forth on his heels.

“Ah no, he has a class right now. Do you want to come in?” 

Mark shrugged, he supposed he might as well explain himself to Mina as well whilst he was here. “Okay sure.”

“Why did you want to talk to Hyuck?” She leads them into the living room. 

_She didn’t know?_

“Uhh, I think I need to apologise to him.”

“Apologise? For what?” 

“I may… have accidentally hurt his feelings?” Mark asked it like a question. Mina obviously had no idea what was going on and he really didn’t want to make her mad at him as well. 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah…”

“I just… I barely know him, but I don’t know why I care so much about this. like, I didn’t even say anything serious and I apologised straight after, but it’s still eating me up.” Mark was clearly finding excuses to make himself feel better. 

“Sounds like you care about him.” Mina hugged her knees up to her chest. 

“Well, yeah of course I do. He’s your brother.” 

“No, not as my brother. As a person. He may be my twin but we are individual people.” 

“You think so?” Mark would believe anything at this point. The guilt was driving him crazy. 

“Yeah, I do,” Mina said dejectedly. 

“Oh, Mina… I’m sorry.” Mark winced, he was making a lot of mistakes and doing a lot of apologising lately.  
“No, no, no. It’s okay. We can’t control how we feel. I will admit he hasn’t been himself lately, but I just assumed it was from school stress.” Mina smiled small. “If you care for him you should tell him that.” 

“But I don’t know if he feels the same way.” Mark sighed.

Mina laughed. “Oh, trust me, he does. Donghyuck is actually quite shy so he puts on a brave front to make himself feel more confident. He probably though that by teasing you he could get away with hiding his feelings from you.”

“Wow.” Mark breathed. “Mina, thank you so much. I really needed this.” 

She smiled again. “Don’t worry about it. If you break his heart, though – you’re dead.”

“I will walk myself to the funeral,” Mark promised. “I really am sorry though. You are amazing, but I see now that I can give you the love you deserve.” 

“Nah,” Mina waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about me. I will get over it in a few days. Besides, there is a really cute guy in my major who keeps trying to give me his number. I think I can make do.” She winked. “Go get your man, Mark.”

“Thank you.” He gave her the best hug he could and a smile, a nice one that said ‘thank you for everything you are the best person ever, sorry I am in love with your twin.’

Mina had texted him the times of Donghyuck’s class. Mark made his way over to the University as quickly as the NSW public transport system would allow him.  
He sprinted up to the lecture hall just as the flood of students came out. He stood on his tip-toes, searching for a familiar head of bronze hair.

“Mark?” Donghyuck sidled up to him. 

“Donghyuck.” He said breathlessly. The younger male was wearing a black hoodie and warm brown eyeliner today. 

“What are you doing here? And why are you out of breath?” 

“I just ran, duh. I had to catch you.” He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“How do you know my schedule?” Donghyuck began walking. 

“Mina told me.” 

“That traitor.” Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Why are you even here?” 

“I wanted to apologise. For that night in Manly.” Mark reached out a hand to stop the younger male.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Donghyuck looked away.

“Well I do so please listen, this has been eating me up inside for the whole week.” Mark pleaded.

“All week? I didn’t think you cared.” Donghyuck said bitterly. 

“I didn’t think I did either until I lost you. I didn’t know I cared so much about you until I hurt you Hyuck.”

Donghyuck was silent, quietly staring at Mark as he said his speech.

“I really didn’t mean what I said. You are your own person and you are special in your own way, different from Mina, but still so special Donghyuck. I know I barely know you and this is a bit out of the blue, but I don’t want to miss my chance.”

“You really mean that? About me being my own person?” 

“Of course.” Mark nodded sincerely. 

“Oh, thank god.” Donghyuck relaxed, face melting into a grin. “I have waited for so long for you to get your fat head out your ass and notice me.” 

“Hey! I just gave you a romantic speech and this is how you respond?” Mark cried.

“Well, you wanted this.” Donghyuck laughed, eyes glinting with mirth. “Wait, what about my sister? You didn’t break her heart, did you?” he shot Mark a stern look. “I will not hesitate to kill you.”

Mark chuckled. “You and Mina really are twins, she said the exact same thing to me but about you. And don’t worry, I have talked to her already. She was the one who helped me figure all my bloody emotions out.”

“Okay, she is going to need some TLC when I get home.” Donghyuck sighed. “And as much as I like this whole… thing,” he gestured to Mark. “You were right about us barely knowing each other.”

“Well there is only one way to fix that, isn’t there?” Mark smile, a nice one that said ‘you are perfect please date me.’ “Lee Donghyuck will you go out on a date with me?”

“Mark Lee I would love too.” Donghyuck giggled, looping an arm through Marks. 

They walked back to Mark’s car together. 

“So apparently you won't stop talking about me to Mina?” he said slyly, wiggling his eyebrows

Donghyuck turned the colour of a tomato. “FORGET TLC, MINA IS DEAD!” He roared, running off towards the car.

Mark chased after him, laughing. 

 

~ 6 MONTHS LATER ~

 

“Donghyuck! I need you to come zip me up!” Mina called from her bedroom. Tonight was her first date with the cute boy from her Marketing lecture, and Mark was over the moon excited for her. 

They had managed to reconcile their relationship after he and Donghyuck got together, and in the end, became closer to her than he was before.

The hours spent with Donghyuck in their apartment had helped them to form a different kind of relationship. One based on friendship rather than romance. 

Donghyuck hurried out of the bedroom with tears shining in his eyes. “My little sister is all grown up.” He buried his head in Mark’s shoulder as they watched Mina step out of her room, radiating with beauty and light. She twirled, yellow dress flowing

“Mina, you look amazing!” Mark smiled, a nice one that made his friends feel appreciated. 

“Thanks, I am really nervous though, can you tell?”

“Not at all! My baby sister I am so proud!” Donghyuck wiped a tear. Mark laughed and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek. 

“Hey! I am a minute younger than you Donghyuck, don’t get all high and mighty on me right now. And it’s not even the first date I have been on, you forget I used to date your boyfriend.” 

Donghyuck shuddered. “Don’t remind me.” They all laughed again. 

There was a knock at the door and Mina yelped. “That’s him. Can one of you open the door so I can have my entrance?” She blushed lightly, but Mark obliged. 

Walking towards the door, Mark straightened his shirt. He needed to give a good impression on Mina’s date if they were going to be spending time together after all.  
He opened the door. “Hello you must be Mina’s date~” He got a good look at the date. A pale blue button up and inky hair. “JENO!?”  
His best friend screamed. “MARK!?” 

Mina ran out. “GUYS!?” 

Donghyuck just cackled. “Oh yeah, I forgot you two know each other.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading and leave comments and kudos if you enjoyed <3 
> 
> if you have any requests for other fics leave them in the comments below or come and yell at me on twitter [@valenlimes](https://twitter.com/valenlimes)


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